Eniyah W.

Eniyah was born into her loving family February 26, 2011. ‘Niyah’ is her nickname—a 6 year old ‘girly girl’ who is full of personality. She was taught at her early age to believe in herself and to be compassionate towards others. Niyah has been exactly those things and more, along with having an infectious smile.

Niyah’s mom, Shante, feels so very blessed to have such a beautiful, creative, motivated and intelligent daughter who has changed her life for the better.

Sadly and suddenly however, on November 3rd, 2016, Niyah and her family’s world turned upside-down. Niyah became so ill that day she could not move and was rushed to the hospital. Three days later doctors at Seattle Children’s diagnosed her with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a form of cancer in the bone marrow. It’s a disease that causes overproduction and accumulation of immature, non-functioning white cells which prevents the production of normal blood cells. Untreated, it is a terminal condition.

At first, Niyah and her mom were devastated by the diagnosis. They both started crying. But then they looked at each other, prayed, and said to each other, “We got this!”. Niyah was immediately started on chemotherapy at Seattle Children’s. Thankfully, now three months later, the good news is her leukemia is currently in remission.

Barely starting school as a kindergartener, Niyah has a challenging road with at least 2 years of chemo treatment ahead. Unfortunately, Shante’s capacity to work is very limited with Niyah’s medical needs in addition to caring for Niyah’s 3 year old brother Carter. Financial pressures for simple household maintenance cause an additional burden to an already difficult journey this family must emotionally endure.

A social worker at Seattle Children’s who has a long history of referring kids in medical need to Sparrow Clubs suggested Niyah and her family consider being adopted as a ‘Sparrow”. It may be a ‘divine coincidence’ that Lake Forest Park Elementary, which is a neighboring school to Niyah, is also a seasoned Sparrow Club. Students and staff have been heroes to two other Sparrows the past two school years and they have been eagerly waiting to adopt another child in need. They are thrilled to serve the community and help Niyah this school year!

And finally, we cannot thank our friends at Lee Johnson Chevrolet in Kirkland enough as the sponsor of our ‘Sparrow for Niyah’ project. The support of this community-minded business is truly priceless as student’s lives, Niyah’s life and the school community are changed by hundreds of hours of service and the financial, inspirational and emotional impact it will bring!

Niyah has an amazing family and lots of loved ones who care about her—and now even more who, as Shante says, “Have her back”. She has been superwoman through it all. She is so brave and is already an inspiration to many!